Chapter 164 — Who's Stupid, Who's Naive?

This man, then, must be Li Cihua. While he talked on, Wei Zhao was studying him closely. Li Cihua's first impression on Wei Zhao was one of sheer dominance: the arrogance and self-assurance of a man at the top were written all over him, and one had to admit that his public persona was an unqualified success.

This was what they called the aura of a king. Anyone with a weaker constitution would no doubt turn small and timid in his presence.

But Wei Zhao had seen plenty of men with such kingly auras. Few of them were still breathing; those who had been his enemies had, almost to a man, gone off to cross into another world or be reborn.

Wei Zhao simply paid Li Cihua no mind at all. He took a casual turn around the office instead, glanced at the skull-faced man, and asked, "Is this your little honey?"

"..." Li Cihua was struck speechless, his eyes bulging, and he nearly cursed aloud. What was the matter with Wei Zhao, refusing to play by the rules? His original plan had been to get Wei Zhao seated, then apply the stick and the carrot in turn, to see whether he could be won over. If he could be recruited, recruit him; if not, kill him.

But Wei Zhao had not sat down at all. Instead he had asked a question that enraged Li Cihua. What kind of eyes did the man have? Did a little honey look like that?

Li Cihua cleared his throat twice. "It would seem Mr. Lin's eyesight is not very good. This is my secretary. My male secretary."

"Oh, so Brother Cihua goes in for that sort of thing!" Wei Zhao nodded in sudden enlightenment. "I'm trembling in my boots here. Hey, fatty, you don't have designs on me, do you?"

"Fuck!" Li Cihua was going out of his mind. When he had first heard Wei Zhao call him "Brother Cihua," he had been rather pleased, thinking the boy had some sense in him, knowing to call him a "brother." But what followed did not sit well at all. What did he mean, he went in for that sort of...?

And to go straight from "Brother Cihua" to "fatty" — at last Li Cihua could not hold back, and he swore.

"Heh, just a joke. Don't be angry." Wei Zhao sat down with a smile on the sofa facing Li Cihua. All that earlier talk had been deliberate, aimed at provoking Li Cihua and testing his limits; only with his head muddled would the man reveal more of his thinking in the conversation to come. Now it seemed his purpose had been achieved, so Wei Zhao naturally did not go on wasting words on him.

"..." Li Cihua frowned. "Mr. Lin, since you were willing to come here, then let us speak plainly and hide nothing."

"Whatever you have to say, say it." All of Wei Zhao's earlier groundwork had been laid precisely to make Li Cihua speak plainly, so that he would not circle around him. Those remarks had also been a warning: if Li Cihua wanted to go in circles and drivel nonsense, he was better at it than the man himself.

"Straightforward!" Li Cihua said. "Then let us speak plainly. That bank kidnapping case earlier — were you the one stirring the pot?"

"Did it need me to stir the pot?" Wei Zhao was rather contemptuous. "Those few were trash. What, were they your people?"

To Wei Zhao's surprise, Li Cihua nodded with perfect readiness. "Indeed. I failed to take Mr. Lin's existence into account. Sending those men was a miscalculation on my part."

"Oh? You mean to say you were the one behind the bank kidnapping?" Wei Zhao was somewhat puzzled that Li Cihua would so directly admit to it.

"I was merely one of the interested parties," Li Cihua said. "As for the finer details, Mr. Lin need not know them. The more you know, the sooner you die."

"Ha, are you trying to frighten me?" Wei Zhao was wholly unconcerned by Li Cihua's threat. "Aren't you afraid I'll turn you in to the police?"

"Haha!" Li Cihua looked at Wei Zhao as though he were an idiot. "Since I have said it aloud, naturally I am not afraid of you calling the police."

"Is that so?" Wei Zhao looked at Li Cihua with a half-smile.

"If you don't believe me, you can try..." Li Cihua waved a hand. "Evidence — there is no evidence! Words alone prove nothing, and I leave no evidence of any kind behind. Wei Zhao, I have to say that you are very stupid and very naive. At our level, in the struggles between men like us, the only ones ever dragged out into the open are the small fry. You think the police don't know what I do? No — they know. They know better than you do! But they cannot touch me. Why? Because the people behind me are people they cannot afford to offend, and they have no evidence sufficient to touch me!"

"You mean that if I kill you, and the police have no evidence, then you die for nothing all the same?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Your analogy is rather amusing, but I can tell you this: if you really did kill me, and you were clever enough to leave behind no evidence at all, then so long as Gu Pengzhan stands behind you, no one could do a thing to you either." Li Cihua said. "That is the rule of struggle in high society. No one will be the first to break the rules."

"Heh, I understand." Wei Zhao nodded, cursing inwardly: you fool, and still you sit there smiling so happily? Killing you would be child's play to me. But since you have said as much, I cannot kill you — once you are dead, the one behind you certainly will not let the matter rest. What Wei Zhao was weighing now was the larger picture. Until Gu Pengzhan launched an all-out offensive, Wei Zhao would not act rashly either. Striking at one or two important figures on the other side to give warning was acceptable, but killing them... that was a little premature.

"So long as you understand that much, then I won't waste words or beat around the bush either." Li Cihua said. "As the saying goes, the wise man adapts himself to the times. I trust Mr. Lin is now clear on this: if we wish to kill you, it is in fact an easy thing. While you live, Gu Pengzhan may still have some use for you; but once you are dead, do you think he would step forward for the sake of a mere bodyguard — or even for his own daughter's kept man? If he knew about you and his daughter, he would be wishing you dead sooner rather than later."

Wei Zhao watched the spittle fly from Li Cihua's lips and felt contempt in his heart. The man's mind was too filthy; he had imagined the relationship between Wei Zhao and Gu Mengyao as something sordid and complicated. Did I look like a man who sneaks in to steal the young miss?

Looking at Li Cihua, so sure he knew the inside story, Wei Zhao found him pitiable, lamentable, and a thorough fool besides.

People of that sort, who believe they have seen the truth while knowing nothing at all, are the stupidest of the stupid.

"What is it you want to say?" Wei Zhao did not refute Li Cihua's words. Let him misunderstand however he liked. Since the man had misread the relationship between Wei Zhao and Gu Mengyao, so much the better: it would give Wei Zhao all the more justification when he moved against him later. You touch my woman, I touch your whole family.

"Work with us." Li Cihua uttered the words with great confidence.

"Work with you?" This time Wei Zhao was rather taken aback; he had not expected Li Cihua to say such a thing.

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